


And the Point, Gentleman, is That They Lived

by Luthorchickv2



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Archangel Castiel (Supernatural), Archangel Dean Winchester, Fix-It, Fluff, M/M, Post-Episode: s15e20 Carry On, heaven fix it, post 15X20 fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-14
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:53:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28059495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luthorchickv2/pseuds/Luthorchickv2
Summary: After 15x20, Cas tries to build a life in heaven alone, since its enough that Dean is in heaven and is loved.Dean just wants his angel.Jack just wants his family and has a couple surprises up his sleeve.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester, Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester
Comments: 8
Kudos: 212





	And the Point, Gentleman, is That They Lived

**Author's Note:**

> I can't believe that the first thing I've finished during the Pandemic is a fix-it fic for a show I haven't been involved with in 10 years but here we are. 
> 
> This started as me just wanting a quick fixit for heaven and then Cas had to be dramatic and Dean needed to have a say and then Jack got involved and then I was off to the races. It is the most self indulgent thing I have ever written and is so saccharine I gave myself a cavity. The characters may be a little OOC but wasn’t 15x20 that anyway? 
> 
> The title is borrowed from Ever After. 
> 
> Time in Heaven is wibbly wobbly timey wimey. 
> 
> Also comments are so very appreciated

Cas watches from a distance, content to linger beneath the woods by the bridge out of sight as Sam and Dean hug. He’s happy they are reunited, even as he is sad Dean’s life was cut so short. It was an ignominious death, and Cas was furious with himself that his own cowderice had kept him from keeping an eye on Dean. His one consolation was that Dean can enjoy the heaven Cas has worked so hard to craft for him. Because it was for Dean, who deserved a true heaven, who loves life and deserves more than a loop of his greatest hits. He deserves true peace. And Cas, who loves him, had the power to give him that. 

“You know, they’d be thrilled to see you.” A voice startles him and he spins to see Jack standing behind him. 

His son, who was now God, who had reached into the Empty and pulled Cas out, reshaped as an Archangel, fit to Cas’s own preference. His body was no longer his vessel, but now a manifestation of how Cas sees himself, down to the skewed tie and trench coat. It had been his vessel for a fraction of a fraction of his lifetime and yet still feels more right as his angelic form than his other forms. 

Jack darts in and gives him a hug. Cas has been his uncle, father, and now, Jack hugs him with all the power and comfort of Cas’s own father.

“He’s happy, he has Sam, and Bobby, and his family, and I have my work.” Cas lets himself lean into Jack in a moment of vulnerability before pulling back. 

Jack smiles at him, sadly. “I didn’t bring you back to be miserable and while you have been extraordinary helping me right everything, I didn’t bring you back for that either. I want you to be happy.”

Cas smiles softly at Jack, heart full. “I know. And I am. I am content to love. I never expected that he return that love. I have given him a heaven to be at peace in. It is enough.”

“And besides, now that we have fixed Heaven, as an archangel, my place is overseeing the hosts and spreading free will.” 

Jack reaches out and straightens his tie. “Your place is wherever you damn well please. You deserve peace and to be happy.”

Cas turns back to the bridge one last time, memorizing his beloved’s form. He will not impose. Dean deserves this peace and Cas? Well, Cas still has atoning to do. 

“And my place is at your side, helping to fix the mess of the last 12 years.”

Jack huffs, exasperated, “This what happens when angels have free will, they become stubborn. But I won’t force you, even if I think you are being bullheaded.”

Cas smirks and stretches out his new rainbow tinted wings. He is happy, truely. It is enough, as long as he ignores the longing within him. 

He extends his wings and launches himself into the sky. He’s ready to go back to work. 

********  
Cas has an office, tucked away in a corner. If it resembles the war room of the bunker, well no one mentions anything and he doesn’t spend a lot of time there anyway. Archangel he may be but he refuses to separate himself, to hold himself above. He’s been too many things, seen how separation can corrupt and will not go down that path, again. 

Instead he spends his time talking, breaking down barriers between spheres and giving angels choices. What do they want to do, not what they were made to do. 

It’s a hard concept for many of them to wrap their minds around, fear of falling still prevalent. Cas stares at their trembling scared forms and wonders that he used to be that. 

Time moves differently in heaven particularly now that Cas has no need to keep track of it. He works and trains and time passes, much as it did before Dean Winchester. 

He’s in his office one day drafting orders for a new unit of Guardian Angels when Jack knocks softly. 

“Castiel.”

Cas looks up and pops to his feet. “Jack.” 

Jack saunters in and plots down in a chair in front of Cas’s desk. He leans his elbows on the edge and stares until Cas sits back down. 

“How can I help you?” 

“It’s how I can help you. I want you to take a vacation.”

Cas feels his eyebrows pop up in surprise. “What?” 

“I want you to take a vacation. You have been working non-stop and now that things are stable, you should take some time. I won’t force you but I would like to spend time with you, not here, Like we used to.” He ducks his head, looks up at Cas, eyes peering through his lashes. 

Cas knows he is being played, knows that this is a manipulation but he also knows that Jack means well. And he is tired. 

“Very well, where shall we go?” Cas closes the file he was working on. 

Jack lights up and Cas warms. Jack may be God but he is also still the creature that Cas has loved. 

“I have a place. Well, it isn’t yet a place, but it will be.” 

Jack reaches out and grabs his shoulder and before Cas can blink they are in a plot of heaven that isn’t on any of Cas’s maps. 

“What is this place?” He stretches out his grace and there is nothing. 

“It’s for you.” Jack says standing a little ways away, hands shoved into his pockets looking like the teenager is no longer is. 

“For me?” Cas repeats. Why? 

“Perhaps you will find it silly. But with everything that happened. We never really got the chance to be a family, not really. I find that I want that, with you. I am a being of unlimited power and I find that what I want most is to know family, beyond the host.”

There has only been one other moment in his existence where Cas has felt such joy and his eyes flicker around checking for the empty just in case. 

“I wasn’t the best father, I didn’t know how. But I am willing to learn.” He opens his arms as Jack throws himself into them. 

They stand for an eternity and Cas is so grateful that he gets to have this. 

Jack leans away from the hug. “I have some errands to run. This space is for you to do with as you will. A home.” 

Cas blinks, and his mind flinches away from the thought that home to him is a person. Instead he focuses on wonder. He’s never really had a physical space just for him and he’s excited. Jack pops away and leaves Cas with an empty space and limitless possibilities. He’s glad Jack isn’t here for this, it means he can be as indulgent as he pleases with no fear of commendation. 

He reaches for his grace and flicks outward. Around him, a forest and lake appear with an outline of a house. If the lake resembles the one where he stood once in Dean’s dreams, well the only one who will visit is Jack. 

He looks at the house, a barely sketched out thought, and pulls up every half formed whisper of a thought of making a home for Dean and selfishly executes it. He pulls up his grace and throws it at the house, heart bare. 

The house flickers into a small two storey house with a garage. The outside is light blue with a large porch. He ignores the garage, knowing he’ll never enter it but nevertheless pleased that it’s there. He opens the door and steps onto a hallway. Empty weapon racks line the left side and a coat rack with a lone brown leather jacket hangs on the right. The wall on the left drops away to a large living room with a huge TV. To the right is a small dining nook, a table for 4 which opens to a large kitchen, with every appliance and an island which looks out over the lake. Next to the kitchen are stairs that lead up and on the other side covering the whole rest of the back of the house is a huge library that looks out over the lake, with a sturdy oak desk and plush couches for reading, shelves over flowing books. There are weapon racks here that are full, and Cas tenderly strokes a facsimile of an angel blade. 

Upstairs there are three bedrooms, not that he needs sleep, but he’s gotten used to the rhythms of a human life. Towards the front of the house is a guest bedroom, with an extra long bed and full of empty bookshelves. The next bedroom is Jack’s. It’s empty for the moment. He wants Jack to decorate it himself. The whole back of the house is the Master suite. He passes by a bathroom holding a large jacuzzi surrounded with ledges for candles and Cas aches but he holds himself together until he sees the master bedroom. 

The Master bedroom overlooks the lake and is filled with light. There are skylights over the bed and dressers that hold ephemera that Cas can’t examine yet. He finally turns his attention to the King Size bed piled high with soft pillows and decadent sheets. He slowly sits on the memory foam mattress. Perhaps this wasn’t a good idea, he thinks, pressure in his chest. He knows one thought will erase it but he can’t bring himself to actually do it. 

Carefully he toes off his shoes and lays down. He looks at the empty space beside him, stretches on a hand and closes his eyes. If he is quiet enough he can pretend he can hear another’s breath and he can pretend that if he just extends his fingers they’ll brush against warm flesh. But they won’t. There is no one there. There will never be anyone there. He squeezes his eyes closed, and, alone in the safety of this domestic fantasy he’s created, he cries until he falls asleep dreaming of freckles and green eyes. 

********

There’s a garden by the back door that Cas loves the putter around with. He’s destroyed and killed so much that to help create and nurture life brings him joy. He has tomatoes, and peonies and cucumbers and pumpkins and rose bushes. 

It’s here in the garden, trench coat and suit jacket discarded, sleeves rolled up, wings extended soaking up sunshine, and up to his elbows in soil when Jack finds him. 

“Hello, Castiel.” Jack calls out. 

Cas turns his head and smiles. “Hello, Jack. Errands complete?” 

Jack shrugs, looking a little guilty. “I finished my errands. And also I need a favor.”

Cas raises his eyebrows, surprised. He stands and with a snap is put back together, coat and all. “Anything.”

“It’s not so serious as all that. I have someone who is looking for the right home and a companion. I thought you might do well together.”

Cas bristles, slightly. He can’t say no to Jack but the thought of someone in his space rankles.

“Of course, where are they?” He keeps his tone level. 

Jack grins happily and whistles. 

A shaggy light brown otterhound races around the corner of the house and slams to a stop just before crashing into Cas’s legs. He plots his butt down and stares up at Cas adoringly, tongue hanging out. 

It was not what Cas had been expecting and he stares at the dog, flabbergasted. 

“This is Miracle. He likes going for walks, baths and promises not to dig up our garden.” Jack bends down to scratch between the furry ears. 

Cas kneels down, mentally shaking off the shock. The dog is adorable and Cas feels something inside himself warm. Maybe companionship won’t be so bad. 

“As long as he leaves my tomato plants alone I guess he can stay. Hello Miracle, it’s nice to meet you.” He doesn’t know what to expect but the Miracle throwing himself into his lap isn’t it. He is briefly knocked off balance and it’s only his wings flaring out that enables him to keep his balance. 

“I knew you were a good fit.” Jack smiles at them.

Cas pats Miracle before slightly pushing him off his lap. Miracle tumbles off, doggy grin in place and stares up at Cas. 

“Go head, go explore but no dirty paws on the sofa!” Cas calls as the dog races to the lake and throws himself in. Cas feels alarmed for a second before he remembers, this is heaven and Miracle will be fine. 

“I was hoping to stay for a little while?” Jack tentatively states as they walk down to the lake to watch Miracle swim. 

“You are always welcome here Jack, always. You don’t have to ask.” 

Cas means it and is happy for the company. 

“Thanks, Dad.”

Standing there, with Jack next to him, Miracle splashing around, Cas thinks to himself that maybe he can be happy, incomplete as he is, that maybe eternity won’t be so lonely. 

********

The drive from the bridge back to the Roadhouse takes no time at all, and Dean is almost happy, driving his baby, Sam next to him. But he knows this isn’t everything. He’s died before he could really live and Sam’s lived a whole life. He’s learned to live without Dean, has in fact lived longer without Dean than with him. It’s heaven and Sam is gonna find Eilleen and Dean, Dean wants Cas. He wants to see his angel, he wants to tell him he’s sorry didn’t get a chance to speak. He wants to say that he loves him too. And if Cas still wants him, he wants to build a life together, the way they couldn’t on earth. 

He pulls into the Roadhouse and Bobby and Karen are standing there, with Eileen. Sam barely lets the car stop before he’s leaping out and sweeping Eileen into his arms. Dean smiles at them and leans back against the hood of his car. ‘Cas, man, where are you?” He prays and frowns when Cas doesn’t appear. 

“Now that you’ve got your brother, there are a bunch of people who want to say hello.” Bobby says and inclines his head to the bar. 

Dean follows him, hoping to see one particular face. The first people he sees though are Jo and Ash and he wants to cry. They were so so young when they died. Dean died at 42 and Jo looks like a child. She gives him a hug and punch. Ellen is behind the bar and nods at him while sliding a pint to Rufus. He looks from person to person, Caleb, Charlie, Kevin, Pastor Jim, he thinks he sees Benny in a corner curled up with Andrea. People he’s failed one way or another. He forces himself to keep looking but the one form he wants to see isn’t there. He sees his parents at a table and quickly looks away. He’s not ready for that confrontation at all. 

He steps back out of the Roadhouse and looks at the sky. “Jack?”

“Hello, Dean.” He hears from behind. He turns and there is Jack, looking as young as he did the last time Dean saw him. 

“Nice job with the place.” Dean waves an arm around.

Jack grins and bounces up on his toes. “You like it? I had help.”

Dean grins back, happily to see the being who he had viewed as a son so happy. “It seems to be missing one thing.” He says. “Where’s Cas?”

Jack frowns. “He’s being stubborn and a workaholic.” 

“That sounds like Cas. What is he being stubborn about?”

“He doesn’t think he deserves to be happy.”

Dean rolls his eyes so hard and looks back at Jack. 

“Do you know what happened, the last time?” He can’t even finish the sentence. 

“I do. Honestly, I didn’t need him to tell me. The love you shared was tangible. He looked at you like you hung the stars and you looked at him like he was the sun.”

Dean can feel himself blushing. 

“What’s this?” A gruff voice startles Dean and semi pivots to see John standing by the door, Mary, Sam and Eileen behind him. 

“Dad.” His voice chokes and he hates how he feels 22 again and being lectured. Fuck John, Dean has saved the world multiple times, has battled heaven and hell and god himself. John Winchester is just a man. 

“I was hoping that we could spend some time together as a proper family but what’s this I hear about you in love? With a man?” Dean can hear the disgust in his father’s voice and wants to curl up. This was exactly why he never came out, because of this judgemental prick. But he isn’t 22 and he’s faced things that make John seem like the easter bunny. 

He’s an adult and he is loved by an angel and fuck John if he can’t except that. He stands tall and turns to fully face him. 

“Yes, I am in love with a man.” He says strong and proud. Which is not technically correct but Cas has favored Jimmy Novak’s form even after he had a choice. 

He can feel something lighten within him. It’s the first time he has said it out loud. And it’s true, he loves Cas. 

“And hey look at that, loving a man didn’t send me to hell!” He snarks, proud of that one. 

“I am your father and you will show me some respect.” John goes to raise his hand as if to slap Dean. 

“And you will show your son some respect.”

The sky darkens and Dean had all but forgotten about Jack who is God, standing with him. Jack no longer looks like the kid Dean tried to raise, but has wrapped his power around him like a cloak. 

“You are only here John Winchster, at the behest of your family and in acknowledgment of the good you did do on earth, but disrespect your son again and I will cast you down, where you belong. Your son has risen above all that he has suffered, the abuse you heaped on him and saved the world. More importantly he is a good, righteous man who is loved so much that existence was saved. He is the beloved of my Archangel and if you can’t keep a civil tongue behind your teeth, it is his wrath you will face.” Jack puffs out and Dean can just see the shadows of wings behind him.

Dean rests a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “It’s okay Jack, he can’t hurt me, not anymore.” And Dean means it. He guesses Heaven is better than therapy, certainly cheaper. He squeezes Jack’s shoulder affectionately and the sky brightens again. 

“Cas is an archangel now, huh?” He feels such pride.

Jack shuffles his feet. “He’s my father.” He mutters, as if embarrassed that he favored Cas so. 

Dean smiles at him, full of love. “I can’t think of anyone more deserving.” 

Jack grins again, full of mischief. “That’s funny because I can.” Before Dean reacts, Jack places his hand on Dean’s forehead and pushes. 

Dean falls to his knees, galaxies explode in his soul. He is everything and he is nothing, he is love and strength and hope and righteousness, and compassion. He knows the secrets of the universe and he knows nothing at all. He is the size of Mount Everest and can squirm between atoms. He is a cacophony and silence. He feels all that are on earth and all that are in heaven. He is fire and ice and feather and steel and all of the stains he has imagined line his soul are gone. He is ancient and reborn. He sees without eyes and without a thought casts his vision out expanding through heaven, searching for an answering grace. There, not that far, is he for whom his soul searches. 

An exhale later, an infinity, he is kneeling, on dirt, breathing air he doesn’t need. He feels his brother’s hand on his shoulder and hears him yelling. His existence is shattered and remade and he feels peace, like he has never known. 

“I’m okay, Sammy.” He reassures his brother and stands. Everything looks the same and none of it does. He can see golden threads connecting souls, can see souls themselves. He looks down and sees he is clutching a greatsword, made of stardust, and there is a heaviness on his back. He shakes a little and great black wings unfurl.

“Behold, Dean Michael, Archangel, Protector of the Just and Champion of the Righteous. May you reign with wisdom and never forget kindness” Jack grins at him. 

Dean says the one thing on his mind. “What the actual fuck?” he isn’t actually angry but a little warning would have been nice. 

“Dean!” Sam shrieks, before laughing.

Jack moves to hide behind Sam. “I thought you’d get bored.” He shouts. 

“And besides, I wasn’t allowed to tell you where Castiel is, now you don’t need me to.”

Dean lifts the sword and points it at him. “We will have a conversation about surprises and proper warnings another time. I have somewhere I have to be.” He doesn’t want to risk flying. The knowledge is there but he’s rather not risk landing like a drunken parrot in front of Cas. 

He throws the sword into the back seat and a thought moves his wings into between and he can fit into Baby. 

One last look at his family and he pulls out, heading in the direction of the grace he felt before. 

Fields fade into woods and before he can even think, the woods part and there is a house by a lake that looks familiar. 

He parks, and sits there. Shy, just for a moment, but he knows he is loved, can feel it in away he couldn’t before, thanks to the angelic upgrade. He takes a second to pull his grace, and isn’t that a kick in the head, into him. He doesn’t want to startle Cas. 

He strokes the steering wheel for a moment and pops out leaving the sword behind. Cas’s grace is calling to him from behind the house and he makes his way around, absently noting the details. He sees a figure, so achingly familiar standing on the dock and he wants to cry. 

He keeps his steps light, his grace cloaked until he is just behind him. 

“Hello, Cas.” His voice is rough but the words are strong and Cas jumps, wings exploding out. Dean bursts into laughter even as he grabs the trench coat, keeping Cas from falling into the lake. 

“Dean?” There is wonder and joy in those blue eyes, even as there is trepidation in the voice. 

“Hiya, Cas.” He releases the coat and raises his hands to cup Cas’s face. He rubs his thumbs along the cheekbones the way he never allowed himself to think. 

“Dean.” Cas blinks and tilts his head and Dean has to kiss him at that familiar and adorable motion. 

He presses a soft kiss to closed lips, chaste and pulls back. 

“You are real? This isn’t a dream?” Cas whispers and Dean had to kiss him again, at something so sad. 

“I’m here, Cas. And remember, the only thing that is real, is us?” He teases, pulling back. 

“I’m sorry I never got to say it. I’m sorry you died without hearing it. I love you too, Cas. With everything in me. You can have what you want, Cas. You can have me.”

Dean leans his head back, watching as Cas absorbs the words, finds the truth in them and grins. He holds them steady as Cas leans into him.

“Hello, Dean.” He says, joyful, and presses his lips to Dean’s. 

The End.


End file.
